Tears of Ice & Blood of Fire
by Corvus no Genmu
Summary: "Why did she run? Why was she afraid?" Ice spread across the fjord like a cancer, anchoring whole entire ships to the surface of frozen waves. "Why did no one, not even her sister, know of her power? I don't know." A young foreigner looked down at his hand and closed it tightly over the elegantly blue glove carried to him by the north winds. "But I am going to find out."
1. Frozen Heart

**DISCLAIMER:** All copyrighted materials belong to their respected owners.

* * *

**Tears of Ice & Blood of Fire  
**

By Corvus no Genmu

* * *

01: Frozen Heart

_"Cut through the heart, cold and clear.  
Strike for love and strike for fear.  
See the beauty, sharp and sheer.  
Split the ice apart and break the frozen heart…"_

As Elsa watched her sister vanish away into the crowded ballroom, she couldn't help but wonder if a brief experience of happiness swiftly followed by despair was to be her lot in life. Growing up with a closed door locked good and tight between her and her sister, there was little in life that made Elsa well and truly happy as she once had been in those secretive nights when two young siblings played to their heart's content. That's not to say that she didn't have her moments of happiness throughout her budding years. Elsa had two well-loving and well-intentioned parents for most of her life, and try as she might, there was no stopping Anna from getting close enough to remember a lost childhood through some errant mishap at the dinner table or the palace library.

Elsa still hadn't quite forgiven Anna for the "caterpillar incident".

However, there was one thing in particular that brought a joyous smile to Elsa's face and made her firmly believe that the blizzard inside her quell quietly into silence.

When she was younger, before the accident, her father had been in correspondence with another king from a far off land, a king who just so happened to have a child Elsa's own age. Elsa never learned whose idea it was to have the two young royals begin a correspondence of their own but she was thankful for it all the same. Even back then, Elsa was wanting for someone her own age that shared a few of the same concerns as she being the heir to a throne. Of course, she was rather hesitant to the idea until she received her first letter.

She remembered the words to that letter still to this day, the words neatly memorized in her mind no matter that the grammar was atrocious, the spelling even worse, and the handwriting akin to chicken scratch at best. The young prince, who insisted they excuse formalities and just be themselves, had written the letter by his own hand, something that even Elsa's father hadn't expected of the young prince as he himself had prepared to take down Elsa's letter on her behalf. Feeling almost challenged by the prince, and not helped by little Anna's comment that his handwriting still looked better than Elsa's own, the young princess took to writing her own letter.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

_A forgotten history_, she thought rather morosely to herself. While the time between letters has always been quite long —her father had once pointed just how the letters travelled on a globe— the last letter had been several long months ago. Her letter, nay, her invitation, should have arrived with plenty of time for him to answer and perhaps even show up on the one and only day she would have the gates opened to the world before she locked herself away to protect the world from herself.

"Your Majesty?"

Elsa gasped and turned sharply to her left, nearly leaping back at the close proximity of a young dignitary who had, apparently, been watching her for a while. A foreigner, of that she had no doubt by the thin almond slant to his startling hazel, nay almost golden, eyes that seemed perpetually set in an amused twinkle. His black hair, longer than any man's hair ought to be, was tied into a tight braid that trailed all the way down his back. His clothes were distinctively stitched in the styles of the East Orient and colored in shades of darkened reds with highlights of autumn oranges and summertime yellows. For a moment, Elsa wondered whether he was a duke or perhaps—

"A thousand pardons, Your Majesty," said the young man with a slight bow of his head. "But seeing as yonder Duke was granted the honor of a dance with your sister, I was wondering if perhaps you would allow me the same by dancing with you this fair night?"

Elsa smiled with slightly forced ease as she raised her hand to wave away the young dignitary's offer, "I—"

"Aye." He grasped her hand and with a slight tug, stumbled her into his awaiting grasp before he took them both out to the dance floor. "That means yes in the sailor's tongue, correct? Such a versatile language…"

He chuckled while Elsa was torn between being mortified and terrified ironically for the same and yet entirely different reasons. For while both emotions could be applied to either reason, even Elsa herself couldn't decide which took greater precedent, her concern that her steadily failing control would slip and she'd freeze her dance partner solid where he stood or if she'd make an even greater fool of herself than the Duke of Weselton.

The guests made way for the pair and the orchestra –much to her steadily increasing anxiety— decided then was as good a time as any to begin a slow, almost romantic song. Her partner took her left hand in his right and his left gently upon her hip. Terrified azure eyes fell to her gloves, waiting to feel the bitter cold amass at her fingertips but no sign of frost permeated the cloth but dare she believe…? She wasn't cold, the storm was silent and… and she was _warm_.

Elsa swallowed her nerves and mirrored the motions with a quiet confession, "I actually don't know how to dance…"

Her partner's smile only warmed in delight as he whispered right back, "There is no knowing in dance, nor is there any thinking either. Hear the music, feel the rhythm, and just…" He shrugged, "Dance."

Elsa couldn't help the small smile on her face as she glanced up at the young man who stood only marginally taller than herself. "So may I know the name of my partner?"

She realized too late how easily her words could be misinterpreted by the foreigner as his hazel eyes widened in surprise and the warm smile grew into a teasing grin. "Partner, Queen Elsa…?"

"Dance partner, sir. _Dance_ partner." Elsa stressed, not quite realizing that with the loss of control over the warming of her cheeks, so too did her control over her magic slip and yet… Nothing worth worrying over occurred save perhaps for the twinkling amusement in her dance partner's eyes increasing their luminosity.

Elsa could tell, however innately, that she would soon dread that twinkling gaze for the headaches it would bring.

"My name is Shido."

She waited a moment to see if he had anything further to add and to her frustration, he didn't. "And where are you from, Sir Shido?"

He chuckled again, a sound that Elsa refused to like hearing much as it made her want to smile in kind, "Now how am I to keep dancing with you if I tell you everything about myself, Your Majesty?"

Elsa turned her head away, her head held high in a gesture she remembered her mama doing whenever she was upset with papa and not feeling at all inclined to inform him on why. She glanced out the corner her eye at Shido's smiling face and allowed herself a small smile of her own.

_Maybe tonight won't be so bad after all._

* * *

"I said ENOUGH!"

Ice, sharp and wicked, emerged from the floor before Elsa, staving off her younger sister's approach. Caught between horror and fear, Elsa looked to her sister and hastily looked about the room like a cornered animal. Her eyes fell upon Shido, the only one that she had touched, however unwilling she had been, in the past thirteen years. Like everyone else in the crowd whose eyes were filled with fear, confusion, and a dash of anger on top of it all, but his golden eyes were not upon her but the crowd around him.

He frowned and met Elsa's eyes, his own openly showing confusion and concern as he set aside the glasses of wine that he had gone to fetch for them both before the sudden arrival and spat between Elsa and her sister. Was he really concerned for her? Why would he be? Did he not see what harm she was capable of doing? Did he not see the harm that she had already done, there upon her sister's head…?

"Elsa…"

Her younger sister's voice brought her back to reality and Elsa did the one thing she thought sensible in doing.

She turned away from her sister and ran.

* * *

_Why did she run?_

Ice spread across the fjord like a cancer, anchoring whole entire ships to the surface of frozen waves.

_Why was she afraid?_

Impossibly, in the midst of a summer's night, snow began to fall as the air began to slowly cool.

_Why did no one, not even her sister, know of her power?_

A young woman promises to return and set an equally young consort to safeguard the kingdom in her stead.

_Why?_

The same young woman rides off on horseback into the blizzard, to find and bring back her sister, to end the winter she unknowingly brought forth.

_I don't know._

A young foreigner looked down at his hand and closed it tightly over the elegantly blue glove carried to him by the north winds.

_But I am going to find out._

* * *

Elsa sat in her new bedchamber trying to feel that same elation that she had when she first constructed her new palace, when she had let go of her ironclad control and just let the magic flow and do what it will. It was a beautiful morning, the dawn's light painting the walls of her new palace in a stunning myriad of shimmering pinks in a sparkling sea of blues. She wasn't cold but she wasn't warm either and perhaps therein lied the problem. She tried to smile, really she did, but no matter how at ease she felt, no matter how much she tried to relaxed and recline and simply enjoy her freedom for what it was…

She just—"Will flicker into light…"

She blinked. "Wait, what is…?"

She turned to the open stairway and slowly walked towards it as the faintly familiar voice continued singing softly down from the bottom floor.

"There's a spark inside us that we can all ignite and all that's dark inside us will flicker into light… There's a power in every breath, there's a power in every note…"

Elsa descended the stairs fully and carefully looked into the room. She was surprised to find Shido standing by the icy replica of a watery fountain.

"A power that starts within the heart, a power that rises through the throat…" Shido sung dancing to music only he could hear as his voice echoed throughout the chamber. "And when it sails up through the air, more beautiful than any prayer… This power can right a wrong, and it will always thrill the ear of those that have the power to hear the magic of the song…"

He trailed off, staring off into space for a moment before sighing, his breath coming out in a thick mist, before he turned to regard Elsa. His eyes widened at the sight of her changed attire and blood rushed through his face like liquid fire.

"Hey give it back…" He murmured quietly.

Despite the sheer absurdity of the situation, Elsa could not help but find herself curious to just what the young dignitary could possibly be insinuating she stole. "Give what back?"

"My breath…"

The absolutely sincerity in such simple words left her breathless, a strange tickling sensation rising in her stomach as a rosy blush blossomed across her pale face. Nothing in the interior of the castle reflected just how she felt but the exterior… Crystalline butterflies were forever captured in midflight along the icy walls of a starry night sky as a jovial sun and a delightfully amused moon watched on in perpetual silence.

Elsa shook her head and focused a resolutely royal glare upon Shido as she descended the last of the stairs. "How did you get here…?"

"It was not easily done, I assure you." He shook his head. "But you are not so concerned with how I came to be here but more as to why I am here."

Elsa crossed her arms and waited.

"I am here…" Shido spoke like his was speaking the very secrets of the universe to an unaware disciple, "because I care."

_That…_ She blinked as she tried to make sense of his words but her mind seemed unable to do anything more than replay his words over and over again. _That's…_

She hadn't been expecting that or the sadness that welled up in Shido's eyes as he took notice of her surprise.

"Is it so strange for me to care about you?" he asked her, sounding almost hurt by her reaction.

"Yes!" She snapped, a flurry of snow falling around them as she lost control alongside her temper. "We've only just met! How can you possibly come to care about me?"

"Wait, what?" Shido blinked and tilted his head. "You mean you don't…?"

She had expected his surprise but she didn't expect him to start laughing. Not chuckling quietly, nor giggling foolishly, but a fully belly laugh that had tears trailing down from his almond shaped eyes and him half collapsed to the floor. Ah well, at least her surprise had quieted the storm both within and outside.

"Wh-What's so funny?!" She demanded, stamping her foot and causing the icy floor to slicken to an unprecedented degree and _still_ he surprised her by remaining on his feet.

"You, I had thought you were playing earlier at your coronation party but this…" He shook his head, chuckling softly under his breath as he wiped the remainders of his jovial tears away. "So tell me, what's next on the… how you say… vacation plan?"

"I—What?"

"Vacation… That is what this is yes? Surely you don't intend to make a life here beautiful though your new palace is."

Elsa was rather offended by Shido's words and it showed with a frosty frown as she crossed her arms and asked, "No. This is my home now so if you'd please just go away—"

"What's for fasting then?"

"I would—wait, what?" Blast it there went her train of thought again! Would he never cease in his attempts at derailing it? "What are you talking about now?"

"Fasting? No, wait, that's not right. Um… How you say… break fast? Breakfast, that's it! Breakfast!" Shido was beaming like a child that had managed to enunciate a particularly difficult word at Elsa.

"I'm not—" Her stomach interrupted her attempt at denial with one of its own, a particularly loud vocalization that sounded more like the displeased growl of a large feline than anything else.

Elsa turned away from Shido's knowing grin with as much regal dignity as she could amass given the rather loud protestation made from her stomach. She hadn't really thought that far ahead in hindsight. She imagined that she could perhaps use her powers to try and catch some of the local game but… Well, to put it frankly, for as knowledgeable as Elsa was in a vast variety of subjects, from geometry to politics, she had no experience in the culinary arts.

A faint rustling sound drew her gaze back towards Shido and her eyes widened as he played with a small bag in one hand and a tiny piece of chocolate in the other. He smiled knowingly at her as he tossed the candy up and down into the air before suddenly tossing it towards her. She caught the candy clumsily and was rather surprised at how delightfully warm it felt and yet it somehow retained its starry shape.

"It's not much, and it's certainly not peppermint, but I hope it will do for now." Shido said as he approached her and offered the small pouch to a stunned Elsa. "I've no idea of the game in this land but I'm certain that I can find something fit for a queen by day's end."

"… It's morning," she muttered more to herself than to him.

"Then I sincerely hope you will not devour the lot before then," he said with a teasing smile before he turned and started for the open door.

Elsa watched him go in silence before she looked down at the star-shaped chocolate in her hand. She placed it delicately in her mouth. It was delicious, as to be expected, but more than that it was—

_Warm…_

* * *

True to his word, it had taken the better part of the day for Shido to find something worth bringing back as a meal fit for a queen. Of course, he hadn't really intended to take quite as long as he had but really, how was he to know that Oaken's place was on the _opposite_ side of the mountain? Still, the man had been delightfully understanding and more than welcomed his foreign currency (for really gold, no matter its conformation, is still gold), so Shido had begun hiking back up to Elsa's palace with a packed meal in hand when he heard the monstrous sounding roar.

He blinked once and in that same instant, he was off at such a speed that it was a wonder that a trail of fire did not follow in his wake with how fast he was traversing up the mountainside. The basket of food was left behind somewhere amidst the endless whiteness of mountainous snow as he ascended towards the peak. The roars continued and it was all that he could do not to answer in kind as he caught sight of the palace and the vanquishing form of its guardian descend down into the shadowed depths of the earth below.

He saw the soldiers of Arendelle and that one prince that was with Anna, the one who likely sparked the sisterly spat which led to all this, but he hardly cared. Shido raced up the stairs, easily slipping between them as he saw familiar flashes of azure light sparkling through the translucent walls. He slid through the open doors, took a hasty lookover before his eyes shot upwards.

There, two men and—

"Elsa!" He gasped.

He was off, up the stairs at such speed that it was only the magic that crafted them that prevented the icy steps from melting from the incredible friction wrought from near sound breaking speed. Shido arrived on the second floor and slid to a halt, gasping for air with sweat dripping down from his scalp as he took in the scene. Unsurprisingly, at least in his opinion, the two attempted assassins were easily overmatched by Elsa's magic but was startling to see was her continued wrath upon the two men as she urged her ice to continue forth, one to pierce and another to push but both leading to the same destination.

"Elsie, no!" Shido reached out with an imploring hand to the raging Snow Queen, "If you do this…! There is no turning back from this! You will become the monster you fear you are!"

Elsa's eyes widened and she turned to face Shido as the magic ceased its harsh flow from her hands, moments away from ending two lives.

"What did you call me…?" she whispered. No one called her Elsie. No one but Anna and—

Shido suddenly turn, just in time to watch Prince Hans grapple the arm of the pinned lackey of the Duke and turn the firing crossbow up into the air where its bolt struck against the precarious chain of frost of the icy chandelier. Elsa looked up and gasped as the chandelier started to come crashing down towards her. She started to run but for once in her life, ice had turned against her as she stumbled.

"ELSIE!"

The icy floor beneath Shido's feet cracked loudly as he suddenly leapt through the air, impossibly fast and incredibly far, and caught Elsa up in a bridal carry but just as she had, he too slipped against the ice and landed hard on his back and skidded along the floor as the shards of the chandelier scattered across the room.

"…Ouch. That's going to hurt in the morning…" Shido looked down at Elsa and saw her eyes were closed. His eyes widened in panic for a moment before he saw the shallow rise and fall of her chest.

The small troop of soldiers immediately surrounded the pair, the captain kneeling down beside the pair, his eyes falling upon Elsa. "Is she—?"

"Unconscious but alive…" Shido looked up with a snarl as the unpinned lackey of the Duke shuffled around the ice wall that nearly pushed the assassin to his death. "No thanks to them!"

"Arrest these men for going against my orders," snapped Prince Hans, glaring spitefully at the pinned lackey.

Shido's eyes narrowed as he rose to his feet, still holding Elsa in his arms and ignoring the trail of blood the fell down the side of his head. "And for conspiring the murder of Queen Elsa."

"Ah, yes…" Prince Hans nodded in agreement and watched as the soldiers took care of the Duke of Weselton's lackeys. He spared a glance at the unconscious Elsa, frowning slightly at the way Shido was carrying her despite the offers of the soldiers standing nearest him to relieve him of his unconscious burden. "My thanks for the timely intervention good sir and, pray forgive me, but… just who are you?"

As the two men spoke, one of the soldiers who remained at guard near the staircase happened to glance downwards at the floor and saw something rather peculiar. He supposed that it had been damaged by the fall of the chandelier, perhaps even by his queen's actions in defense of her life but still… It was rather strange that the floor where the man Shido had stood and leapt to the defense of his monarch, was cracked and damaged as though the ice had not been crushed, cracked, or even broken. If anything, the young soldier could almost swear that it had been gouged by something with wicked, sharp claws…

* * *

The Duke of Weselton walked briskly through the halls of the castle, intent on finding his two men before Prince Hans had a chance to interrogate them and find the truth behind their motivation in murdering the sorcerous queen of Arendelle. His mind raced as he sought of ways to advance his position in the eyes of the Arendelle's new king whilst sparing his men. He didn't truly care for them all that much but there were his sister's husband's nephews… God only knew what kind of hell she'd raise if she got word that he gone and let them both be executed.

A hand reached out and gripped the Duke's shoulder tightly, "I would have words with you, Duke of Weasels Village…"

"It's _Weselton!_" He exclaimed, whirling about to find himself glaring up at a foreign dignitary, the young lad from the Orient, Shido-something-or-other. The Duke didn't know much of the man or from where he had come, only that he had been in the arms of the queen prior to her monstrous reveal of character. So the Duke had little reason to trust this dignitary. Why, for all he knew, he was a far worse monster than the queen herself!

The Duke blinked when he realized the neutral expression on the dignitary's face was gone, replaced by a fierce scowl of fury the likes of which the Duke had only seen on the face of a man whose woman had been grievously insulted. "… Did I just say that out loud?"

"Oh, you most certainly did." Shido grabbed the lapels of the Duke's coat and lifted the man up into the air before slamming him hard against the wall.

"Gah! Unhand me at once you—you _ruffian!_ Guards! GUARDS!"

"Be you a fool? Your men already sung your wicked praises," snarled Shido, "the guards will not aid you nor will they hinder me. I was willing to hear for myself your defense from your men's slanders but I find it no longer prudent. You tried to have Queen Elsa murdered. Your men came close to succeeding. We were in my country, it would be my honor to end your life and leave your remains for the kara—beg pardon, the crows."

"B-Bu-But—!"

"But we are not in my country. We are in Queen Elsa's and as soon as she awakens, we shall see what can be done with you."

"B-B-B-But sh-she—! She—!"

"Speak up!" snapped Shido, his patience at an end with the old man's babbling.

"She killed her own sister!"

Shido's eyes widened and the Duke thought himself safe from the man's wrath, but realized too late that Shido's earlier anger had been but a simple candlelight to the full inferno of his rage.

"You lie!" He growled, his eyes almost aglow as they narrowed into thin, angry slits. "Elsie would sooner take her own life before she'd let any harm befall her sister!"

The Duke, faintly wondering why he smelled wood smoke, choked out, "Bu-But it's true! He-He told us himself!"

"Who told you such lies?" Shido snarled. "Tell me!"

"P-Prince Hans! Prince Hans said that Princess Anna named her sister as her killer before she took her marriage vows with the prince and died in his arms!"

"… Marriage vows?" Shido blinked and lowered the Duke down just enough that the man's toes were lightly touching the ground. "He couldn't possibly…"

**CRICK**.

Shido looked down the hall and saw, much to his surprise, small spears of ice appearing along the rafters.

"You see?! You see, she's a monster! She needs to be killed now for the—"

"Be silent."

"Good -URK!"

Shido dropped the unconscious man unceremoniously to the ground and wasted no time traversing through the hallways of the castle. He knew that Elsa would have broken through her steel bonds, he had all but guaranteed it really with his claims that steel would work far better in securing a sorceress than iron, but if what the Duke had said was true… Shido's hastened his pace.

* * *

Shido's eyes were tightly clenched against the wind as the snow hurled past his face and hissed angrily into thickened clouds of steam as he pushed his way forward. With the storm howling as a deranged beast freshly loosed to the hunt, Shido knew that calling out to Elsa would be a lost cause. Trying to see her through the thickening mist of snowfall, especially with her being dressed in a gown made of ice, was only marginally easier than trying to locate a needle buried in a mountain of hay. Even tracking her unique scent, the crispness of evergreen with an underlying scent of peppermint, was quite impossible to sniff out. All that he could do was try and find the light of her magic amidst the storm.

Not so easy a task as it sounded for the entirety of the storm, from its swirling clouds to its tiny snowflakes, was ingrained with her power. It was akin to finding the North Star whilst being undeniably drunk and somehow managing to be caught in the roaring arms of a tornado. So no, not so easy a—

**WHOOSH.**

"… Huh." Shido looked back the way he came and watched as the misted clouds rolled away and vanished away into the ether. "That's… different."

He looked around him and, to his surprise, found that the snow had been frozen in place. That is to say that nothing, not one tiny snowflake amidst the countless falling throughout all of Arendelle, was moving and were hanging perfectly still in midair. Shido frowned and felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

_It is not the same thing but this is a lot like when…_ His eyes tracked along the frozen waters of the fjord and there, in the distance, he spotted a glistening star. Far across the fjord was Elsa and there, at her back standing tall over her as she kneeled in misery, was Hans with a sword slowly unsheathed for a killing stroke.

There was no time to blink, no time to speak, and not even time to think.

Elsa was in danger.

So he ran.

The ice beneath his feet screeched in agony with every footstep as thick, steaming gouges were left in his wake. His misted breath came out in thickening puffs with the clouded air darkening to a degree that faintly resembled smoke. Far away as he was, there was no way that he was going to make it in time, but still he tried.

_Got to make it!_

The sword was raised.

_Got to make it!_

Still Elsa refused to try and defend her life.

_Got to make it!_

Still the sword came down.

"NO!"

It took Shido a moment to realize that it was not just his voice that screamed in defense of Elsa's life. He slid to a halt as the magical backlash washed over him, cooling off the fires of his fury as Hans himself was knocked aside like a ragdoll while the defender, Elsa younger sister Anna, turned completely into ice. Shido watched with wide, disbelieving eyes as Anna's last breath left her in a small, quiet hush of air and looked away as the light of her heart began to dim as death welcomed her into its embrace.

"Anna?! Anna…! No! No, please…!" Shido's eyes clenched tightly shut as Elsa broke down into tears. "Anna…!"

"Anna?" A quiet voice drew Shido's gaze to a snowman that had waddled up to the scene and were the situation not so utterly despairing, he might have been amazed with what Elsa had unwittingly done. He glanced away from the tiny snowman and saw the hesitantly approaching figures of a mountain man and a reindeer. The man looked like the world had just been pulled out from underneath his feet and the reindeer looked just as devastated as the snowman, bowing his antlered head in silence.

Now, more than ever, Shido was certain that he had missed something in the last few days…

_… thump…_

Shido turned sharply to the frozen Anna, clutched tightly in her weeping sister's embrace. _Was that…?_

_… Thump._

The snowman looked up gasped in delight for the ice that had been Anna was melting, slowly but surely as life returned to her body once more, her heart beating strong and loud. The reindeer nudged the mountain man who took in the sight with a relieved smile while the queen herself looked up into her younger sister's eyes with tears shining wetly in her own.

"Anna…?" She gasped, standing upright and pulling her sister into a tight hug that Anna returned gladly with a quiet murmur of her sister's name. "You sacrificed yourself for me?"

Shido winced at how honestly surprised Elsa sounded. Did she truly think herself of so little value in the eyes of her sister?

"I love you," said Anna in answer and Shido smiled as the snowman gasped with realization.

"An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart!"

"Love will thaw…? Love…! Of course!" Shido smiled and crossed his arms, knowing what was to come though Anna appeared both confused and hopeful.

Elsa raised her arms up the heavens and with the motion so too did the ice and snow follow, flowing upwards in thin, tiny strands of frozen might as the oceanic waters of the fjord broke free and rose the ship beneath the group up on its waves. The snow and ice gathered in flowing swirls high above the city as the heat and warmth of a summer sun began to shine brightly in the morning light. The swirls condensed together into the shape of an utterly massive snowflake before it too was vanished away with but a gesture of Elsa's arms.

"I knew you could do it," said Anna with a teasing smile aimed at her sister as Shido leaned against the mast of the ship with an exasperated smile of his own.

"Hands down this is the best day of my life and quite possibly the last." The snowman proclaimed as the blistering warmth of summer fell upon it like a crushing weight, its body melting rapidly though it seemed no less jovial.

"Oh, Olaf! Hold on, little guy!"

_Olaf?_ Shido mouthed to himself, testing the strange sounding name as Elsa gestured at the snowman and created a miniaturized winter cloud above its head or, to be more specific…

"My own personal flurry!" Olaf giggled in delight; dancing in place as its—_his_— body was restored to full form.

A pained groan drew everyone's gaze to the recovered Prince Hans. Shido was hardly surprised to find the mountain man making way to confront the man but was amused to find Anna stopping him and handling the prince on her own via a few short words followed by a swift punch to the face that knocked the man overboard and into the drink before resuming hugging her sister, both of them happy for life though both with their own unique interpretations of what made life worth living. Ironic though it may sound, it was their opinions were exactly opposite of the other. For Elsa, it was Anna as her little sister again and for Anna, it was Elsa as her big sister again.

Shido barely repressed the urge to laugh. He didn't want to break the moment, so he remained behind the mast of the ship, out of sight of the others on board. He would his talk with Elsa, he was quite certain of that. For one thing, he had become a riddle in her eyes and if there was one thing that Elsa just could not stand, it was unsolvable riddles. Besides that there was the issue of transportation. Namely the fact that the boat he had travelled on to get to Arendelle was currently half sunk in the water.

_Ah well… Wasn't really going to be needing it anyway…_

* * *

Shido stood in a back corner of the courtyard freshly converted into an ice rink by Elsa's magic. He leaned against the barrier wall of the palace and watched with crossed arms and a small smile as the people took joy and merriment in Elsa's power and the wonders it could bring. He caught the scent of evergreens with a faint undertone of peppermint and his smile grew as he turned to the approaching Elsa.

"Your Majesty." He greeted her.

She paused, her lips dipping into a small frown too quick for most eyes to catch before she greeted him in kind, "Shido."

His smile widened to a full grin. "Ah, suppose that I should be calling you Elsa then if we are, how you say, on a first name basis?"

She blinked, surprised no doubt by his sudden elation, before she smiled with a touch of exasperation to her lips as she resignedly shook her head. "I believe you make it a habit to catch me off guard."

"For as long as I have known you." He agreed.

Elsa's eyes narrowed. "Yes, so you claim. I don't suppose that you would be willing to stop with this game of yours and tell it to me straight would you?"

Shido looked out at the crowd as he spoke, "I think that this is a conversation for only our selves, aye? I care not if you wish to have Anna beside you as well but she appears to be… how does the saying go…? Otherwise preoccupied?"

Elsa spared a glance and couldn't help a fond smile. Anna had again taken to the rink with Olaf leading her into the proper ways of skating. It was an amusing sight considering that the snowman didn't really have legs much less skates. She regained her dignified neutral mask and nodded imperiously at Shido.

"Follow me."

* * *

He had expected the throne room to be her first choice as an apt place to interrogate him. Especially if she wanted to better emphasize her ruling as royalty to his unknown status amongst the nobility. The dance hall made for a good second option if only to give her wide, open space to wield her ice if she thought of him as a threat. As it was, he was pleasantly surprised that she had invited him into her family's art gallery where many wondrous painting lined the walls. The paintings were nothing at all like what he was familiar with in his home country with a sense of realism to them he thought impossible to capture with brush and inks.

A polite, and slightly impatient, cough interrupted his silent enjoyment of the gallery and he turned an apologetic gaze to the queen who was looking pointedly at him, waiting for him to finally put all of his cards on the table.

"… Do you want to hear a story?" he asked

Of course, leave it to Shido, who had no real concept of Western card games, to start his hand by laying down the Joker. Elsa looked even more disgruntled with the amber-eyed man but nodded for him to continue, silently praying that he was going somewhere with this or she'd truly go spare.

"Once, there was a boy who corresponded with a girl through pen and paper. The boy lived far to the east and the girl in the west and both of them had many things alike to the other just as they did differences. One such similarity was their respected isolations, both for protection of those most precious to them. They were loners, the two of them, but could never truly stand the thought of being alone. They loved to read and neatly devoured their respected libraries of their favored entertainments, she the arts of geometry and architecture and he of the arts of music and song.

"Yet for their similarities, there were differences between them. He detested most sweets save for peppermints while she adored anything with a speck of sugar to it, chocolate most of all. He preferred the warmth of a nearby fireplace while she liked the cool breeze by an open window. Yet the greatest difference between them both was the matter of tongue—no, beg pardon—of language for neither could speak nor write in the others' own. The boy, seeking to impress the girl, learned enough of her language to make a good attempt at a letter but failed to realize that he had incorrectly written his own name. Rather than admit to his mistake, he allowed the girl to call him by the name of—"

"Cid…" Elsa's eyes were wide as she stared at Shido while her face gained a rosy tint. "You… You're Cid?"

Shido chuckled. "Hi, Elsie."

"You, you _imbecile!_"

Shido blinked in surprise. "Eh?"

"You—All this time, why didn't you _say_ anything?" Elsa demanded, marching up to him as ice cracked outwards with every petite stomp of her feet. Shido backed away from the approaching queen, not scared of her power but the look in her eyes told him in no uncertain terms that he had incurred her wrath and though he knew not who had said it, he was well aware of the old adage that spoke of a woman's wrath.

"I… thought it was not a good time?" He answered.

Of course, Shido had no idea of a similar proverb of men and rampant idiocy but there you go…

"A good time? What on earth makes you think that this time was any better?" Elsa demanded to know.

"Well, you see," Shido said, looking for about the gallery as though hoping to find something, anything, that could make the situation better. "There are reasons for my being here asides—_besides_ your coronation you see. Reasons that I was… tentative to reveal so soon after… Everything."

"Oh?" Elsa was quite close to him now, nearly in his arms as she had been the night of her coronation. "What reasons could you possibly have to make a fool out of me?"

A creaking of the gallery's door opening preceded the voice of a maid whom stuck her head into the large room as she spoke, "Ah, Your Majesty, Princess Anna was wondering—" The old maid, one of the few that had been amongst the staff since the incident so long ago, spotted the pair and her eyes widened before she smiled with understanding.

"Ah, I see! I shall let her know that you're merely getting acquainted with your betrothed then!" She called to the pair with a rather delighted air before she departed. She had every right to be after all, how lovely was it that young Elsa was to marry a long-time friend, especially one so exotic as that young lad! Ah, if she were a few decades younger…

"My…?" Elsa parroted the maid's words before looking up at Shido, her hands somehow clutching tightly upon the cloth of his shirt and inexplicably it impossible to freeze even as the ice beneath her spread outwards like an unwinding serpent. "Betrothed?"

Shido glanced warily down at Elsa who was staring listlessly up at him. "Ah… yes, that would be one of the littler things I was to discuss with you…"

_One of the littler things…?_

**_One_** _of the littler things!?_

Well. She didn't know quite how he had did it but Shido had, yet again, distorted Elsa's worldview to such a degree that contrary to previous occasions where she could otherwise ignore or go along with it, Arendelle's queen found herself with only one viable option left to her.

She fainted.


	2. Pretending

**DISCLAIMER:** All copyrighted materials belong to their respected owners.

* * *

**Tears of Ice & Blood of Fire  
**

By Corvus no Genmu

* * *

02: Pretending

_"Face to face and heart to heart, we're so close yet so far apart.  
I close my eyes I look away, that's just because I'm not okay.  
But I hold on, I stay strong, wondering if we still belong…"_

Elsa had a headache. The kind of headache that starts with a small throb up in the forehead but soon escalates down between the eyes with excessively hammering force. The kind of headache that is certainly not alleviated when one's younger sister is grinning like an absolute loon and giggling like a schoolchild fresh out for the summer season.

"So he's been promoted from boyfriend to your betrothed, Elsa? Good for you!"

Elsa tried –really she did— to try and finish her breakfast so she could escape—retreat_—_no,_ depart_ to her room but the headache and Anna's teasing was not making it any easier for her to enjoy the food let alone finish it. "We've been over this before Anna, he wasn't my boyfriend then and he certainly isn't now."

"No, he's not," said Anna with a surprising amount of maturity to her voice before she collapsed to helpless giggling once more. "He's your betrothed!"

"Oh for the love of…"

"Sorry, sorry!" Anna managed to get some semblance of self-control though she occasionally loosed a tiny guffaw as she asked, "So you fainted and then—what? You haven't seen or spoken to Cid since?"

"Shido," Elsa corrected her absently, taking a bite of her food and repressing another appreciative groan. She might have to stop by the kitchens before running away—_heading up _to her room. She was certain that it wouldn't be too difficult to bestow a title to him given what she had done for Anna's consort Kristoff.

_Is the title Queen Elsa's Private Chef a bit too presumptuous?_ She took another bite. _No. No it is not._

"He had left a note stating that he would speak with me more on the matter in the morning but—"

The doors of the dining room opened and the man himself walked onto the scene with a slightly smudged chef's cap balanced precariously atop his head and a beaming smile on his face. "A thousand pardons, majesties, but I fear that I may have overdone it with the dessert…"

"Dessert, with breakfast?" asked Anna, positively elated at the idea especially if chocolate was involved.

"Ah, with dinner actually… Needs time to cool you see."

Elsa though, groaned with realization, "_You_ made all this?"

"It was not easily accomplished, I assure you. The cooks kept insisting that the kitchens were no place for royalty, especially a foreigner who has no idea of the proper names of the ingredients. Thanks fully, er, thankfully they were at least kind enough to humor me to try some Western dishes I've learned." Shido glanced at the table filled with enough food to fill the bellies of four people, let alone two. "Is it not enough? I had thought that Little Anna's consort would be joining us?"

Anna flushed red, torn between smiling delightfully at the reminder that Kristoff and her were in a relationship, official and everything, and pouting childishly at being called little by a man that was, frankly, far too tall to make such assumptions about her perfectly average height thank-you-very-much!

Elsa smirked as she stole a glance at her sister, "Arendelle's new Ice Master & Deliverer is currently out with the rest of the harvesters and shan't be back until this evening, much to my sister's displeasure I'm sure. What was it you said Anna, about getting enough "kissy time"?"

While Anna was busy with trying to make three new shades of red via her face, Shido chuckled in amusement at the byplay between the two sisters.

"Ice Master & Deliverer, eh…? A befitting title for him." Shido gestured at the many empty chairs and looked imploringly at Elsa. "May I?"

Elsa opened her mouth to reply but Anna beat her to the punch with an exuberant, "Yes!"

Shido smiled as he took a seat opposite of Anna and to Elsa's left, and set aside his hat before taking a plate of food for himself. "So do you suppose now is a better time to finish our talk, Your Majesty?"

Elsa frowned slightly again at the formal way he was addressing her. True, she had discarded her less-than-formal dress for own that vaguely resembled the ensemble she wore during her coronation but her hair was still in its loose braid and her head bare of any crown. Which reminded her, she'd have to make a quick trip to her ice palace to retrieve it… But that was neither here nor there.

"Elsa." At Shido's confused look, she elaborated, "If we are indeed betrothed then it is only fair that you should call me by name."

Shido was visibly surprised by this and seemed suddenly shy as he asked, "Then… if it is not too presumptuous of me… may I requestion, ah, _request_ to refer to you as Elsie still?"

Elsa pretended that the way her heart beat just a tiny bit louder was more to do with how irritating Anna was being at attempting to muffle her laughter. "You may but only in private."

"Fantastic!" Shido exclaimed, positively elated. "Then I can only insist that you call me Cid in return! In public or private, whichever you prefer."

_He's all highs and lows isn't he…?_ Elsa mused to herself, remembering many a letter that was a littered with such diverse emotions throughout the pages that it felt more like an entry from a diary than a letter of correspondence between two royals.

Shido suddenly turned serious as he regarded Elsa, a startling change from his usual carefree demeanor in that the sparkle usually present in his hazel orbs was strangely absent leaving his eyes cold and determined. "I'm sure you've plenty of questions, Elsie but let me make one thing perfectly clear. Arranged though our engagement is, I will not push, I will not press, nor will I demand. Ask anything of me and I shall do my absolute to answer and see it done. Ask me to leap and I will question from which tower. Ask me to wait and I'll sit back and enjoy a good book, perhaps compose some music. Ask me to leave and I will be gone from Europe before the day's end."

_He… That…_ There he goes again, taking the metaphorical rug out from underneath her feet. All Elsa could do was blink helplessly under the serious gaze of her pen pal turned betrothed. She had so many questions to ask, so many things to consider, Elsa had no idea where to start.

"Um, I have a question," Anna said, raising her hand as though she were in class and with his gaze now upon her, the princess truly felt herself a student again under a particularly stern teacher's gaze and so she rushed, "Is it true men really pick their noses?"

Silence.

Shido's expression did not change, he merely continued to stare at Anna as though he were still waiting for her to ask her question while Elsa… Well, let's just say that hers was a face that clearly questioned Anna's sanity at that particular moment.

Shido cleared his throat and still maintaining his serious air, answered, "The answer to that question, while I am willing to give, is one that you are not yet ready to hear."

Silence… Then—

"Snrk!" Two pairs of eyes turned to Elsa, one surprised and the other still serious but now aglow with the missing sparkles of mirth, as the young queen tried to smother her laughter and failing spectacularly at it. She couldn't help it. Shido's serious face and words combined with what he had actually said and Anna's face—Oh starry night, Anna's face!—Elsa broke out into full laughter and was swiftly joined by her sister and a softly chuckling Shido.

Once the three managed to catch their breath, and royal dignity, Elsa finally asked the question that was most predominant on her mind. "How long was our marriage arranged? Before we started sending letters to each other?"

Shido shook his head, "I cannot claim whose father thought up the idea first but it wasn't until sometime when we both started sending… how did father put it… whole novels to one another. Mother often joked that the paper makers were quite happy whenever your letters arrived."

"Huh… I think mom said the same thing didn't she, Elsa?" asked Anna to which Elsa spared a mock glare before she looked at Shido.

"Did your father know about…?" She trailed off, looking uncertain.

"About…?" Shido prompted her.

Instead of answering, Elsa waved her hand and a wintry wind blew across the table and set arctic frost upon the empty plates sitting before the empty chairs.

"Ah… About that actually—?" A polite interruption by one of the castle staff spared Shido from elaborating further. He had spent the entire journey to Arendelle and the past week or so struggling to find a way to explain… Everything. The full truth of their parents and the choices they had made and not a mere sampling… He sighed and took a bite of food.

_It will have to wait_, he resigned himself, _until after breaking fast…  
_

* * *

"Alright, I'm not going to beat around the tree about it. I'm sure you've spent many a day wondering just where your powers came from, aye Elsie?"

Her eyes were upon him, her face frozen in an expression he couldn't quite bring himself to recognize.

"Of course you have. However, no one could tell you anything more than that you were born with them. Wile this is quite true there is much more to it than just that, Elsie. So much to tell that I… I have no idea where to begin really."

Silence still permeated from her visage, her eyes unblinking as she stared at him as he paced in front of her.

"I suppose the beginning is a good a place as any, aye, but whose beginning should I tell? Yours or mine…? For you see Elsie, you are not alone as you might think for I too have powers of my own."

Nothing but cold, merciless silence answered him.

Shido sighed and looked away from the portrait on the wall and wondered again if practicing in the gallery was really the right idea. Sure, there was his own room but then he had no way of visualizing just how Elsa would react to his words and her family portrait, painted perhaps a year or so before the start of their correspondence, helped. True, the Elsa in the painting was far younger in appearance but the painter had captured her eyes remarkably well.

_Too well in fact…_ Shido raised a hand with his fingers hesitating upon the cheek of the child Elsa had been so long ago. _Were you eyes always filled with such sadness in your soul, Elsa?_

The morning conversation with the royal sisters had to be put on hold until some time after lunch, possibly even dinner, leaving Shido precious time to try and get his act together. For though a week had come and gone since the disaster that followed in the wake of Elsa's coronation, she was still busying herself with the political clean up. Meanwhile, Anna was off traversing through the city trying to meet some errant cousin of theirs that Elsa had been talking with the servant about during breakfast earlier.

Elsa wanted to try and invite their cousin and her husband to the palace for dinner that evening and Anna took up the task of locating them with a cheerful but determined grin. She sincerely wanted to try and help reintroduce Elsa and herself to the some lost-but-recently-found family as well as introduce them to Shido as Elsa's betrothed and Kristoff as Anna's paramour.

_Wait, no that's not the right word… Um… Consort? Yes, that sounds less French…_

Shido didn't remember Elsa mentioning a cousin in any of her letters but if he understood Anna correctly, and really she made it quite difficult for him with how quickly and excitedly she spoke, the girl had been lost for well near two decades. He would have questioned Elsa about it but she had long since made her excuses and left to deal with the daily trials and tribulations that came with being queen.

So here he was, talking to a painting. Some could call it nerves but most others would call it an exercise in insanity but for one in particular.

"Wow! So you have powers too?"

Well, Olaf would eventually learn the word he was looking for was "opportunity".

Shido did not jump, did not shout, and most certainly did not lose control and let his power run rampant like a mad hound set upon a chicken coop. He had flinched rather heavily in the shoulders, made a slight sound that would pique the bemusement of any notorious mouser of a feline, and allowed himself a small spark of his power to show from his twittering fingers as he turned to face the snowman. The snowman that looked as though Christmas had not only come early but had been cordially invited to ride and steer the sleigh of Nicholas St. North himself.

"Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"

Or it could be that he was just always in a jovial mood but that was neither here nor there.

"I'm Shido. How—" He coughed and cleared his throat of the strange pitch it had acquired and tried again, "How long have you been standing there precisely?"

"Um… Somewhere between "beat around trees" and "my she was adorable as a child wasn't she?" I think…"

Feeling equal parts mortified and horrified, Shido hastily looked about the art gallery for any other prying eyes or listening ears before kneeling down in front of Olaf, "Listen, don't talk just listen please! Elsie—_Elsa_ can't know about this. Not yet."

"Why?" asked Olaf, tilting his head, sounding honestly curious, like a child asking for bettering understanding to the rules of a game.

_Rules of a game… That's it!_

"She can't because—because she has to hear about she got her powers first you see." Shido explained.

"She does?" asked Olaf, tilting his head the other way.

"She does. It's only fair you see, ladies first and all."

"Ah, I see!" Olaf nodded sagely, trying and failing to cross his twig arms across his chest. "Ladies first and all."

"Good… good…" Shido sighed, closing his eyes with relief.

"Then I'll go and let her know you want to tell her then!"

Shido's eyes snapped open and he stared at the spot once occupied by a living snowman in stunned silence for a long moment before he shot to his feet and raced out after the snowman only to realize three very important things. First and foremost, he had absolutely little to no idea where he was going in the palace. Second, though the scent of magic lingered upon Olaf like a faint perfume, it was all but buried beneath the ambience that trailed in Elsa's wake. Third, and likely most important of all, for such a tiny little snowman, the little fellow could move unbelievably fast.

Winded and out of breath, Shido leaned heavily against a wall and wondered if perhaps the snowman, much like Shido himself, had gotten lost.

The blue door just behind him opened at that very moment, revealing a winded but thoroughly pleased snowman and a queen whose tightening grip upon her door was made all the worse by the steady inching of wintry frost. To this, Shido had only one thing to say.

"Son of a dog…"

* * *

"Talk."

One word, one command, and here in her room no less! Sure, she had scooted Olaf out to try and find Anna and return her back to the castle, but that didn't make him feel at ease in the slightest. If anything, he was even more concerned because, if it weren't already obvious, his mouth tended to run off on him whenever he was in Elsa's presence.

"Well, I rather like the color scheme you've got going in here and is that a stack of my letters over by—"

"Sir Shido."

He flinched as though he had been physically struck and though he hadn't, it hurt all the same. "I—Pray forgive me, your Majesty but I have been practicing since I started the journey here and even to this very moment I… I have no idea where I should start."

"I've been told that the beginning is as good a place as any." Elsa said with a faint twitch of the lips. So faint that, if he hadn't been watching her at that very moment, Shido might have missed it.

He blinked. He opened his mouth, closed it, and shook his head with a small chuckle. "Yes… I suppose they are, aren't they?"

He sat back against the window and looked out at the cloudless sky. "I suppose… I suppose that it starts with the Elias Accord."

Elsa blinked and sat up straighter from her seat upon her bed. "The Elias Accord?"

Shido nodded, missing the confused look on the young queen's face. "As you Europeans refer it. Farther out in the East, we call it the Promise of Yen Sid but no matter the name it has, its purpose is without question. Tales say that the Pact was struck in the dying hours of the Lost Empire's fall into the sea… others say that it began somewhere amidst the desert sands in the kingdom of Agrabah."

"I'm afraid that I have never heard of this pact," said Elsa, blushing faintly as Shido turned to stare incredulously at her.

"Never heard of…? What? But surely your…" He trailed off and winced with sudden realization. "No. No they were to speak of it with you on their return weren't they?"

Elsa's eyes narrowed as she connected the dots rather easily. "My parents?"

Shido nodded and looked helplessly at Elsa. "My grasp of your tongue—_language_— is tenuous Elsie—_Your Majesty_… I would butcher the Accord's finer details. I have a copy of it specifically penned in your language. If you wish, I can go fetch it."

Elsa shook her head and Shido inwardly cursed at the chance of escape the situation being shot down so readily. "Later. Continue with your story."

Shido tugged the end of his braid. "I… I must give you the basics of the Promise at the least if you are to understand… Your people call it a pact as my own call it a promise for the same reason. It is a deal, a _promise_, struck between any and all lands that contain within their boundaries remnants, true living, or mere shadows of magic."

Elsa's eyes widened. "Magic?"

Shido nodded. "From actual beings to enchanted items to lingering spells. The Promise of Yen-Sid was that these lands were to never use these elements against each other, for want or for war. It… It was what made the Lost Empire… well… lost."

"This empire… do you mean Atlantis?"

"Atlantis…? Isn't that the name of the ocean west of here?" asked Shido.

"Never mind," Elsa sighed, "Continue."

"Yes, well, as I'm sure you're aware, in the case of Arendelle, the trolls have resided in their valley for many generations in secret until your father discovered them and… Well, the Pact is, in itself, magical and places a spell on the king or whoever is in charge of the land once they become aware of whatever beings or elements reside in their territory. It's a harmless one!" Shido rushed quickly, seeing Elsa's look of outrage at the thought of her parents being bewitched. "It just forces the leader to meet at—" He cut himself off.

"Well?" prided Elsa when Shido did not continue. "Meet where?"

"I cannot say."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "If you don't know how to pronounce the name—"

"I know it!" he snapped, "I just can't say it! Names—Names have _power_ Elsie!" He said, uncaring that he was using his nickname for his precious childhood friend, "I can no more speak it aloud then you would toss your crown aside!"

Elsa winced and looked away from Shido, her hand straying up to the crown that rested upon her head, the one that had been returned to her by the very snowman that she had created to keep away any and all intruders upon her self-imposed exile. Needless to say, the sight of the monstrous snowman caused a bit of a stir until the tinier, and really not much older, "sibling" appeared on the scene with elation and proclaimed the behemoth's name for all to hear.

Really, it was rather hard to be scared of a snowman, even an abominable one, when its name happens to be Marshmallow.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you but you have to understand, Elsie…" She looked back at Shido's face and saw once more the lack of sparkling luster in his amber gaze. "The Promise is a serious thing and what your parents, and mine, had done nearly broke it."

"What," She cleared her throat and met Shido's eyes readily. "What did they do?"

"The Promise needed only your father to go to… The Place… but your mother insisted on coming and your father didn't argue. He had no idea that one of the boons of the spell was a kind of… protection. The journey from Arendelle was a long one and while your father mustered through it fairly well, your mother… Your mother became quite ill. So ill in fact that upon arrival at The Place, your father, a king, went on hand and knee to the entirety of those present and begged for a means of restoring her health. He laid bare everything he knew of the trolls, their magic, and offered the entire tribe up if it meant the continued life of his wife.

"He… He was nearly killed for doing that." Shido whispered. "That is another of the stipulations of the Pact you see… To protect the good elements of magic and never allow harm to come to magical beings aligned to the world and not against it. Thankfully, the Pact recognized his desperation and though he had angered and offended many, your father did impress someone with how much he loved and cared for his wife that he was willing to risk his own life for her own."

"Your father."

Shido nodded. "There is a… how you say, looping hole? Yes, a looping hole that father pointed out to those present. While no one can trade or bargain away a magical being under their protection, gifts gladly given and gracefully received from them may be used in the same manner without consequence. So my father gave to yours the means of saving your mother's life.

"The tears of a winter phenom…"

"A winter…" Elsa's heart felt like it stopped beating as she stared at Shido, "phenom?"

Shido shrugged helplessly, "There is no better name in your tongue. They are… spirits? Yes, spirits of nature that control certain elements of the weather. In the case of winter phenoms, they are quite… diverse? Yes, diverse in their powers. Some are said to create terrible blizzards with a single puff of air. There are some whose gentlest touch can bury entire groves of trees beneath a thick frost. But there is one thing all winter weather phenoms have in common with each other. Their tears, when drunk on the night of a full moon, can heal any sickness."

Elsa looked down at her hands and imagined her flesh to be pale as freshly fallen snow, the blood beneath the skin blue and cold as ice. "Is… Is that why I have my powers? From one of these… phenoms?"

"Um… no, not… not exactly." Shido coughed, looking quite uncomfortable. "Tears of winter phenom, while exceedingly rare and near impossible to receive, have been used to heal the sick many times before and there was no child born with powers over ice and snow."

"How do you know that?" asked Elsa. "What proof do you have? Maybe they hid themselves from the world as I did and—"

"Elsie…" Shido interrupted her gently, "The proof is in Anna."

"Anna?" Elsa blinked and then realized, "She doesn't have any powers at all!"

"Exactly. The tears' effects may permanently cure the ailment but the tears themselves don't remain in the blood forever. The tears melt away beneath the warm rays of a new dawn." Shido smiled, thinking that he had gotten away without having to explain—

"Then how come I have powers then?"

—That.

_Oh boy…_

"Um… Well, you see… Uh it's because—You must understand that it's never happened before and no one could have predicated what your father, how your mother, what they would do—" Shido's awkwardness increased and he unknowingly degraded into speaking in his native tongue, much to Elsa's confusion.

"Shido…"

That seemed to get him back on speaking her language but he was still babbling, "An-and you have to understand that your mother was really, _really_ sick and your father was just so happy an then she was really happy too and—"

"Of for the love of… CID!"

His mouth snapped shut and he turned to her, eyes wide and his obsidian hair looking strangely ruffled with a few strands sticking out from his braid. She repressed a childish giggle at the sight for though she knew not why, Shido strangely reminded her of a startled bird.

"Are you better now? Got it all out of your system?"

_… Got what out of my what?_ Still, he nodded and answered, "Mostly…" He scratched the back of his head and glanced once more out the window. "Yeah, okay so… where was I…? Ah, well, your father took the tears to your mother and had her drink them just after moonrise and your father was so happy and your mother was too and one thing led to another and… well… My father didn't figure it out until he received correspondence from your parents when they learned the full result of their actions about nine months later when Arendelle had its first princess."

Elsa blinked. "What?"

Shido raised an eyebrow and looked meaningfully at her though his eyes were a touch wider than normal, as though he worried he'd have to go into further details of just what had occurred. He visibly sagged with relief as Elsa's eyes widened and her face darkened several shades of red.

"What?"

_Did she just squeak?_ Shido frowned slightly in concern as Elsa stared unblinkingly forward, her face such a marvelous shade of red that it would almost be adorable if he wasn't worried that he had broken her poor little mind.

"I'll… just see myself out then…"

He should be more concerned for her, really he should but there was absolutely no way he was going to talk any further on the subject. Awkward enough for Elsa to be thinking of her parents doing such things, he knew that she would sooner die than discuss it further with him, her betrothed. He knew this readily and quite easily for the fact that he had the misfortune of discussing this with one of his parents.

His mother to be exact…

He had spent _weeks_ reassuring the servants that no, he was not ill and yes, he was not going to be alone in any room with his mother and her book of visual aids _ever again._ Especially not if his father had left the area _grinning_. It scared him sometimes, how his mother fawned over the idea of babies…

On a completely unrelated note, he was _never_ going anywhere near India or any libraries containing certain translated tomes.

Ever.

_Ah well…_ Shido sighed. _At least I don't ever have to repeat that conversation again…_

"SHIDO!" He opened his eyes and watched with wide, and slightly twitching eyes, as Anna rounded the corner and came sliding to a stop right in front of him. "Olaf… you… powers…! Whew!"

_… I may have to melt that snowman._

"Olaf said… you know where… Elsa got her… powers from… so spill…!" She demanded to know. At least, that's what it sounded like given that she was still panting for breath. Why, Anna was barely keeping herself on her feet, her hands pressed against her knees as sweat dribbled down her brow.

_Scratch that. I **will** be melting that snowman._

One rushed explanation later…

"Eew eew eew eew eew eew!"

**SLAM!**

Shido blinked and smirked slightly. He hadn't expected Anna to react any better than her sister but really, covering her ears and running away into her room?

_Would it be wrong to knight a snowman for his innate comedic timing?_

* * *

Shido entered his room with a tired sigh, collapsing upon the chair closest to the window. Though he had managed to escape to his room easily enough, the young man from the Orient couldn't help but wonder just how much time he should give the two sisters to recover their wits. He knew that Elsa would be recovered sometime after lunch, though he secretly hoped she still keep that delightfully rosy blush, but he did worry whether Anna would cease looking like a tomato. He had only a glimpse to go on as she ran away from him but even so, her face was rather startling with how red it had become.

A stray bit of sunlight glinted off what rested upon the table beside him and Shido glanced over at what stood cooled and hardened upon it. Long thin sticks upon which rested hardened pieces of toffee conformed into intricate shapes and designs that no one in the entirety of his home country save Shido and his teacher could create let alone duplicate. Even in his native tongue, the candies bore a simple name of "candy art" and were, for lack of a better comparison, artistic conformations of what would otherwise be colorfully rounded discs.

Or lollipops as the Westerners called them.

Of course, given the ingredients that went into these particular sugary gems, they were each rather distinct in their flavors as they were in their designs. There were six in all, each with a wholly unique design to itself. They had to be given that each was to represent the person for whom they were intended. He wondered whether they'd be well received, particularly the one next to his own. Raising it up carefully, like he was handling fine china rather than a piece of hardened candy, he inspected it from all manner of angles. He noticed a slight awkward bent near the top and uttered a soft curse as he raised a delicate finger to the candy.

The blood in his veins warmed considerably before a small spark of flame appeared at its tip. He held the flame upon the candy, not at all concerned that the candy would burn. The small spark of flame was warm and provided a gentle heat, but it could never burn anything.

Not if he didn't want it to.

After letting the distorted tip reach an appropriate temperature, he lightly pushed it back into place before dismissing the flames from his fingertip, the reddish glow dimming away to nothingness as the blood in his veins cooled down to more human temperatures once more. He held the stick out and watched in silence as it cooled and hardened once more and smiled. Satisfied that it had regained its shape perfectly, Shido set it back down besides his own never once seeing the buzzing bee hovering outside his window before it flew off to parts unknown.

In any other circumstances, a bee is just that, a small and rather menacing insect whose vicious sting guards a precious commodity. Yet there was nothing mere about this particular insect due to one particular element to its composition that made it nothing at all like its mundane brethren.

It was made of ice.

Ah, you think it a creation of Elsa's to spy on her betrothed? So you may think but no, no that's not the case at all… For one thing, powerful though she is, it has been proven that while Elsa is a master when it comes to architecture, her attempts at anything that can remotely be considered a living thing leaves much to be desired. Second, unless she perfected some manner of bestowing human language to it, how was she to understand what the bee could say never mind how could she bestow upon it the intelligence necessary to comprehend what it saw and heard? Olaf, humorous though he is, is a child in many ways and his younger, but vastly oversized brother, is hardly any better. Third, and most important of all, if it were a creation of Elsa's… When then was it flying _away_ from the palace?

Why was it flying east?

Because a winter in summer is not something to be ignored. A storm the likes of which hadn't touched upon the earth for countless millennia is bound to attract attention. Elsa had done this, unwillingly but she did so and there was no undoing what had been done, no wiping away the past. Yet, it was not her manifestations of her powers that drew the eyes to her but what she had done in the process of doing so.

To put it simply, though she had not done so in every literal sense of the run Elsa had run. Run from her sister, from her responsibilities, and even from herself. She ran and it was the act of running that drew the eyes to her for as a lady of ivory skin and eyes that reflected the soul of a deeper wood once said… Never run from anything immortal.

It only attracts their attention…


	3. Monster

**DISCLAIMER:** All copyrighted materials belong to their respected owners.

* * *

**Tears of Ice & Blood of Fire  
**

By Corvus no Genmu

* * *

03: Monster

_"The secret side of me, I never let you see.  
I keep it caged, but I can't control it.  
So stay away from me, the beast is ugly.  
I feel the rage and I just can't hold it."_

The world is dead.

Buried beneath an ivory sea of ice and snow.

Life, forever frozen as it once had been so many millennia ago… save for one tiny spot in what had been the northlands of the Norse. Here, ash was falling as abysmal snow. Smoke rose upwards across the land in thickening clouds of blackness, shrouding the evening sky in grisly veil. A red sun was setting on the horizon, splattering the sky with its crimson hue as the city below burned in an inferno of horror. Bones littered the decimated streets, corpses charred and blackened beyond recognition were scattered carelessly like discarded toys. The castle was in ruins and there, on the horizon, the North Mountain stood as a gravestone to the countless lives lost as the destructor rested upon its precipice.

Eyes golden in hue and animalistic in their ferocity gazed down at the burning lands below and wings black as molten earth spread wide and casted forth a shadow of death across the land as the monstrous thing at long last roared challenge to the storm. The lapping waves of the nearby sea retreated from the advancing heat as the destroyer's cry rushed outwards into the dead world beyond.

A flash of azure and the flames were buried beneath a rolling wave of ice as their crafter screamed in rage at the molten defiance wrought from a wretched beast. The perpetual blizzard roared with thunder, screamed with lightning, and howled with fangs of falling ice and sleeting snow.

The monstrosity atop the mountain turned sharply to meet the ancient quarry, mouth opening in another infernal scream as ice and snow came rushing up to meet its flames and ash. The two opposing energies clashed with a thunderous explosion of light and when it ended there was not but wisps of snow and whole clouds of ash abound the two human souls that once had command over the elements.

And themselves.

Only one stood tall and staring with wide, frightened eyes upon she who laid broken at his feet, both encompassed in the shadow of a once great and imposing mountain. The overbearing force that she had once been, the perpetual storm that had encompassed the world, was gone and in its place was a woman who could only be dead, so unnatural was the the wide, glassy stare of her eyes. The monster that he had been before, the destructor who sought not an end to the storm but a continual spread of fire and ash across an ice-ridden world, was gone and standing in its place was the man he had been before and was again.

His legs gave out beneath him, trembling hands reaching down to the broken form of his beloved. The hand bearing his wedding band reached down and clasped her own, the twin rings glinting even now so many centuries later. His other hand reached out and touched her face, feeling the familiar coldness of her flesh cooling the heated blood pumping through his veins. He whispered her name, the first word uttered upon this godforsaken world in a thousand years. She did not answer and he spoke it again, louder and more desperately. He shook her shoulder and her head bobbed upon a broken neck and in that moment he realized two important things.

He is a monster.

But more than that, he is a murderer.

* * *

Shido leapt to his feet, his hands cast in flames and his blood boiling in his veins. Beads of sweat steamed upwards from panting form, as he looked about the room with wide eyes, wild with adrenaline. He was in one of the guest rooms of Elsa's palace, the sun a fading sight on the horizon through the stained glass window, and over there, knocking at the door, was one of the castle servants.

"Sir Shido? Dinner will be served shortly."

Shido swallowed and steadied his breathing as the flames upon his hands ebbed away to embers while his blood rapidly cooled beneath his broiling skin. "A thousand pardons but… I am afraid that I have no appetite this evening. Please offer Elsie—her Majesty my sincerest apologies."

"Of course, Sir."

The young foreigner waited with baited breath until the servant's footsteps were beyond even his exceptional hearing and he collapsed back into the chair. He looked aside at the art candies and saw that, much to his relief, they were unharmed from his not-so-small slip of control. Shido held out his hand and clenched it tightly before unclenching it. A ball of fire appeared in his open palm, burning merrily upon the untouched flesh of his hand.

He glanced at the fireplace and tossed the flames to the logs inside and watched in silence as the fires crackled gleefully upon the dried wood. The flames were mesmerizingly beautiful and there, in the back of his mind, he could feel it stirring. The urge to let go of his control, to let the fire in his blood burst free in a blaze of glory and reduce all that surrounded him into ashes.

Shido clenched his fist.

"No."

The flames in the fireplace ebbed as his control tightened like a coiling serpent.

"No, I am _not_ that thing's heir."

He couldn't release the chains and further tightened the bonds. He couldn't surrender himself. Not again. Not as he had done once before.

"These are _my_ flames, to do with as _I _wish."

But that didn't mean that he couldn't allow himself the chance to… play …

"… I'm sure there is somewhere I can unwind."

* * *

Unfortunately for Shido, such a place was not to be found outside the palace walls simply for the fact that he could not find a means of escaping without notice. If it weren't the servants going about their duties it was the guards patrolling the palace walls. Honestly, it was proving rather vexing at how difficult it was and Shido was sorely being tempted to simply through caution to the wind and make a leap for it regardless of the consequences.

That is, until he found the ballroom.

Filled as it had been with visiting nobles and dignitaries, servants and even a small orchestra, the true scope and scale of the room had escaped Shido's notice until he found it alone and empty with naught a soul in sight. He looked back over his shoulder, up and down the hallway and satisfied that he wasn't being followed, shut the door behind him. It wasn't precisely what he had in mind, and it certainly wasn't Elsa's ice palace, but he supposed it would have to do.

He walked out into the middle of the spacious room and glanced at the unlit chandelier hanging high above his head. A snap of his fingers and a small twist of the wrist and floating orbs of ethereal flames danced merrily about the room, filling the silence with soft hoots and nonsensical murmurs. Though nothing at all like what Elsa had done in the creation of Olaf and his big little brother, the best that he could do was create mere shades, wisps really, of actual life. The wisps, as he came to call them, had no true semblance of sentience as what he had seen in Elsa's snowmen. They could mimic, they could follow simple instructions, but they had no voice, no soul, to them.

Still, he enjoyed their company and treated them as best as he could.

"Alright little ones what shall we sing tonight?" He asked the flight of flames. The few wisps that were slightly larger than the rest, and bore an additional purplish tint to their azure hue, looked to one another before humming low and deep.

"_I close my eyes, tell us why must we suffer? Release your hands, for your will drags us under…_" Shido's eyes widened in surprise not at hearing the wisps sing in such surprisingly deep voices, he had learned long ago they could speak with whatever voices pleased them. No, it was the song that they had chosen, one that he hadn't heard for some years but knew more intimately than any other. "_My legs grow tired, tell us where must we wander? How can we carry on if redemption's beyond us?_"

Smiling softly to himself, Shido closed his eyes and sung with the now softly humming wisps, "To all of my children in whom Life flows abundant, to all of my children to whom Death hath passed his Judgment… The soul yearns for honor, and the flesh the hereafter. Look to those who walked before to lead those who walk after."

He held out a welcoming hand and a pair of wisps drifted down, kneeling eagerly upon his palm as their larger, darker burning brethren, danced in a slow circle above the head of their maker.

"Shining is the Land's light of justice, ever flows the Land's well of purpose. Walk free, walk free, walk free, believe… The Land is alive, so believe…"

Shido spun, lashing his arm forward and sending the wisps upon his hand flying and they soared through the air, twirling and giggling in delight as they flew upwards and danced amongst the branching limbs of the hanging chandeliers. Save for one whose wavering visage was born in the midst of the lyrics. The not-so-tiny wisp broke away from the group and floated away to the opposite side of the room where it floated and watched in reverent silence.

"Now open your eyes while our plight is repeated. Still deaf to our cries, lost in hope we lie defeated! Our souls have been torn and our bodies forsaken… Bearing sins of the past, for our future is taken… War born of strife, these trials persuade us not…"

"_Feel what?_" hummed the tiny wisps as they floated down from the chandeliers, joining their large brethren. "_Learn what?_"

"Words without sound, these lies betray our thoughts! Mired by a plague of doubt, the Land, she mourns…"

"_See what?_" hummed the larger wisps, looking to their tiny kin as though they might possess the answers, "_Hear what?_"

"Judgment binds all we hold to a memory of scorn. Tell us why, given Life, we are meant to die, helpless in our cries!?" Shido did not shout to the rafters above but his voice resonated as though he had, his eyes still clenched tightly against the world and lost entirely to the song as the wisps joined him.

"Thy Life is a riddle, to bear rapture and sorrow… To listen, to suffer, to entrust unto tomorrow. In one fleeting moment, from the Land doth life flow yet in one fleeting moment, for anew it doth grow… In the same fleeting moment thou must live, die, and know…"

Shido grew silent as did the wisps above as they slowly flickered and died like candles. All but one who murmured and cooed delightedly, drawing Shido's eyes to open and see—

"…I think I might have put too much heart into that song than I realized."

The wisp, contrary to the others he had created this night, nay even before, was a bit large than the rest, a little over the size of his hand and was shaped almost like a cross between a child's imagining of a human figure and a lantern. Two tiny spots of gold that could only be a semblance of eyes glimmered delightfully in an otherwise pale, violet flame.

"Hi!" The wisp waved one lanky limb of flame excitedly down at Shido in a surprisingly feminine voice. "I'm Akari and I love singing in the rain!"

_… What?_ Shido's hands clenched tightly as he watched the little wisp bounce merrily in the air as she, for with such a name and voice it could only be female, went on about much she enjoyed the sound of rain, the rushing roar of ocean waves, and even the steady growl of waterfalls. Shido enjoyed the rain too not so long ago, but with the rain came memories and with those memories came pain.

A forest reduced to ashes and a pair of amber eyes staring forlornly into his own, so similar and yet so different…

He shook his head clear of the past and focused once more on the present.

"Oh, and bubble baths, they're just so—"

"Akari," he interrupted the wisp's ramblings, "you are… alive?"

"Uh… uh-huh! At least, I think I am. Isn't that how it works? I am therefore I think?"

_Drat._

Well, if he couldn't melt a living snowman he couldn't be expected to extinguish a sentient fireball now could he? Besides, there was a far more worrying question to consider

_How am I going to sneak her out of here?_

* * *

"I don't like it in here!"

"It'll only be until we get back to my room now please, shush! We can't let anyone see or hear you!"

"But it smells funny!"

"Can you even smell?" Shido asked, lifting up the small kerosene lantern in which sat Akari, her strangely colored flames hidden thanks to the distorted tinting of the glass.

He had procured, that is to say "borrowed without asking", the lantern from one of the tables that littered the otherwise empty halls of the castle. Thankfully, Akari proved adaptable in her size and managed to shrink her body down to a candle's light but not without complaints. Complaints that she was continuing to voice still.

"I have to otherwise why would I want to get out of this thing!" she exclaimed, her fire brightening for a moment. "Can't I come out yet?"

"No, no, not yet. Just. Be quiet." Shido murmured to the wisp as he continued walking through the castle halls. _Oh I am so unbelievably lost. I think that's the third time I've passed that painting._

"… May I sing?"

He barely repressed the urge to groan. She had moved from complaints to requests now and he knew there would be no end of the absurdity anytime soon. "No."

"… How about I whistle? Will that work?"

Shido didn't stop walking though he did tilt his head at the idea. "How would you even do that?"

"Fine… What about humming?"

Shido rolled his eyes. "Yes, but _quietly_."

"Yay!" Akari cheered before proceeding to hum a small tune that rang a familiar bell in Shido's mind but whose name he couldn't quite—

_Pain… death… destruction._

Shido's eyes snapped open and he turned sharply to the lantern in his hand and the wisp humming his mother's lullaby within. "That's enough Akari!"

The tiny wisp squeaked in surprise and shrunk down to such a degree that her flame was but a tiny spark within the distorted glass. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad…"

"You… didn't." Shido struggled for control, his blood boiling hard and fast, flames flickering along the skin of his knuckles as he breathed out clouds of smoke. "That song… brings painful memories I would much rather—"

"What are you doing?"

Shido did not leap, did not squeak, and most certainly did not panic. He twitched, gasped a soft oath unbecoming to noble tongue, and turned cautiously around to see the one person he had been painfully, that is to say agonizing with the utmost angst, to avoid plus two extras.

"Good evening Your Majesty, Your Highness and Ice Master." Shido smiled but it was a touched strained as he hid the mercifully silent lantern behind his back. "I trust dinner with the cousin went well?"

"That's really a thing?" Kristoff muttered quietly to Anna who looked up at him with amused offense.

"Of course it is!" She whispered back.

"She couldn't make it tonight," distractedly said Elsa, ignoring the byplay behind her as she tried to peer around Shido to see what he was hiding. "Which is good as she is apparently quite eager to meet you."

This was said with a none-too-happy stare towards the younger sibling who shrugged helplessly.

"She remembers seeing you two dance at the coronation ball. She thought you both looked cute together."

Shido's smile lost most, if not all, of the strain and the warm glimmer in his eyes returned as he regarded Elsa. "Do we?"

Elsa looked uncomfortable, not knowing if he was just thinking aloud or actually asking her. "I suppose…"

"Suppose? _Suppose?_ Suppose nothing!" A loud squeak of metal and the dimly lit hallway was brightened by Akari's presence floating above the group, her burning body brilliantly blazing a warm rosy violet. "Songs ought to be sung of their love at every opportunity, why I don't know why you wouldn't think otherwise Anna—Wait, Little Anna?!"

The wisp's blinked and she zoomed down to hover before Anna, who jump back in surprise at the living fireball's proximity and blinked in wonder at the strange lack of warmth radiating from the flames.

"Are you Little Anna? Aw, you really are a cute little thing aren't you? So cute! Like a puppy, I love you already!"

Anna blinked and wondered if the wisp had any room to talk considering. "Who—?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Akari and I love singing in the rain!" The wisp zipped over to Kristoff and looked him over, her beady eyes narrowing as she considered him. "You're singing leaves much to be desired but you're funny, have a nicely proportioned front and bottom, and you even have a cute, cuddly animal sidekick. Yes, you'll do perfectly for her! I approve of your relationship! Kristanna all the way!"

Shido buried his face in his hands and knew that though the act was impossible, he was fairly certain he'd soon discover a way to die of shame right then and there. It was rapidly becoming apparent to him that Akari was the chattiest thing bar none. Well, save perhaps the snowman Olaf but really this was ridiculous!

Sure, he supported Anna's happiness but blast it, he had wanted to threaten—_ahem_—warn Kristoff of the consequences of any misbehaviors and Shido couldn't do that when one of his wisps was complimenting the man! Never mind approving the relationship and giving it a ridiculous nickname! True, Shido had no right but even if Elsa presumed otherwise, he did care for Anna like she was his own blood. She might not be his little sister, in-law or otherwise, but she was Elsa's and thus of only marginally less importance to him as the queen herself.

"Oh and you must be _Elsie!_" Akari flashed over to Elsa, who couldn't help but flinch back at the wisp's sudden proximity though the wee thing gave off no heat. "Wow… I see why Shido adores you so! You have a face to make angels weep in envy and a voice to make the heavens tremble! Sing for me, please? Let the music in your heart go!"

"You're a… How did he… What?" While not so eloquent as she would hope to be, Elsa did manage to ask the most important question.

"I'm a wisp which is kind of like fire but I can do stuff! Shido made me which kind of makes him my papa just like you are Olaf's mama!"

Shido's face paled at that, never really making that connection and, by the look on her face, neither had Elsa.

**THUMP.**

Akari zipped over and looked down towards the unconscious Kristoff. "Aw he fainted!"

Shido looked up towards the ceiling. "… This is going to be a theme isn't it?"

"Cid." He turned sharply to Elsa, surprised and thankful that she still called him by his nickname though the relief was soon buried beneath trepidation. For now he saw in her eyes the frozen storm raging eternal in her soul as she glared upon him not with anger, sorrow, or even hatred. The first two he might have handled and the last might have wounded him mortally to see but this… this nearly broke him. For there, in Elsa's eyes, was something he never wanted to see.

Betrayal.

"Elsie. I…" He swallowed and looked away from her gaze, watching as Anna tried unsuccessfully to try and resuscitate Kristoff. Poor girl had no idea what she was she doing but at the least, Kristoff would wake up knowing that the bruises were all meant with good, if not overly exuberant intentions. "I have no idea where I can even begin."

Surprisingly, it was Akari who answered, "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

Shido blinked and glanced up at the wisp, wondering if it was a trick of the eyes that made him see the devious smile on her face. He could have sworn he read that in a book somewhere, a fairly recent one too but… He couldn't fault the wisp's words any.

"Yes," said Shido as his eyes met with Elsa's own. "I suppose the beginning is as good a place as any…"

* * *

There is almost no life here. Rather, there is very little life here, in this mountainous wasteland of ice and snow. Few creatures could survive the freezing hours of the day never mind the temperatures of the night and those that could did not linger for long under the shadow of the mountain. Once, when humans still lived in the valleys below, there were tales of the mountain's peak, of how it would come alive at the thirteenth hour of the night and call forth the ghastly wraiths of the dead and dying. A devil lived at the peak of that mountain, people whispered. A demon unlike any other, many agreed.

Only one dared to say specifically what resided upon that mountain peak.

Evil.

And that was more than enough.

Tales though they were, with no evidence behind their fearful whisperings, the people ran from the mountain's shadow. For though the centuries had come and gone with no proof of a devil's presence upon the peak, something had come and claimed residency beneath the underbelly of Heaven itself. For you see, in the span of a single night and for the first time in conceivable memory, there came to be snow upon an otherwise bald mountain's peak. A day passed and the snow reached the foothills. A night and soon a blizzard had begun to rage upon the villages.

The humans needed no further prompting. The sensible ones packed their things and left, never once looking back for fear of attracting the very eyes they sought to escape. And those that didn't?

They died.

Buried alive beneath several feet of snow, forever frozen in vestiges of terror and pain.

Yet the storm did not continue to spread nor did it linger eternally. Snow and ice remained, never melting even at the height of a summer's sun but nothing, not even the tiniest of snowflakes, floated from the ice-capped peak of the mountain. Not for well over a hundred years.

Not until something —_someone_— brought forth winter in the height of summer.

Then… that which resided deep within the mountain stirred.

Snow flew forth from the peak, condensing tightly and conforming into all manner of shapes until a veritable kingdom of animals graced the valleys at the mountain's feet. Wolves, large and brutish, sniffed the air and padded their way to the northlands. Deer, tall and graceful, leaped their way past the ruined villages and made way to the east. Serpents, white as ivory with eyes deeper than ebony, slithered beneath the snow down towards the south. Yet sporting the greatest number of them was the swarm of insects, consisting mostly of hornets and bees of all size and distinction, that flew hard and fast to the west.

For the presence sensed the presence of another being, another child born with winter's fury in their heart. Days passed and the presence waited in silence as the searchers returned, one by one, and perished. Memories of the world, of the changes, flowed through the sky and awoke the spirits that danced in the hours of the night but still there was no sign of—

There.

There it was.

There _she_ was…

Eyes, white and merciless, opened in the darkness of the mountain's heart.

"I see you…" The wind stirred to an ancient whisper as the being arose to their feet, "and I will have you."


End file.
